Black Phoenix
by deadly maelstrom
Summary: What happens after you've won? You make sure you stay victorious. Sora did just that. But, it cost him everything only to fooled by destiny. In his tireless quest to end the Darkness, all those around him were lost to him. Fame and power were gifts he received from destiny and, he used them to their greatest extent. This is the story of a man who defied destiny. OC centered.
1. Prologue

**Black Phoenix**

**Prologue**

Riku laid on the hard earth barely conscious of the fact that he was still alive. His silver hair was stained with his own blood and the blood of his felled assailants. Countless corpses littered the ground around him. Riku knew he was done for but, he could smile. He had won.

His prize was the life he'd been fighting to protect. It belonged to a boy only just turned eleven. Tears rolled down his face and his pink irises were surrounded by red. Riku had hoped this boy would become a Keyblade Master in the future but, he lacked the ability to even hold the Keyblade let alone master it. Unlike most people for whom the Keyblade simply returned to their owner, it became an impossible weight in his hands: total rejection.

But Riku let the boy travel with him anyway. He'd been searching for his long time friend Kairi for years and the boy had attempted to rob him. He and the girl he teamed up with decided to stick around after a sound beating, against Riku's will. They had been the cause all sorts of trouble but, something was different about the boy. At first Riku assumed the boys brown spiky hair had been the cause but it was much different. Destiny seemed to abandon child. The Keyblade's rejection proved that. However, a storm raged in his heart that made him impossible to ignore. By the time a year had passed Riku had come to care about the pair as though they were his own children.

_He's the one who can do it. _He thought. _He can free Sora._ Out of his pocket he pulled a small metal charm. It was shaped like a bird with its wings spread and burning with black flames. Riku reached up and handed it to the boy whose body refused to stop trembling. Riku moved his hand and touched the boy's face, smearing it with blood. Riku's voice refused to work so he silently mouthed, "It's yours now."

Riku's hand dropped and his eyes closed. A smile was still on his face. The last thing he felt was the soil mixed with his own red blood and a tear falling on his face.

This began the story of a man who defied destiny.


	2. Blinded

**__****Don't expect the next update to be nearly this fast. I just happened to have a free day. Enjoy.**

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**Chapter 1**

"**Blinded"**

Five years had passed since Riku's death. In those five years the boy had grown. His hair had become long. His body had grown strong to point where it had become a weapon on its own. The storm in his heart was stronger than ever before. Around his neck, hung the charm given to him by Riku. The bird was emblazed on his light blue jacket. The words "Black Phoenix" were written below in graffiti letters. Perched on his shoulders was a crow, Huginn. This was man who defied destiny and, his name was Felix Hunter.

Currently he was walking through a black rock canyon with a green sky above him. The canyon was riddled with human skeletons and an occasional Keyblade was seen sticking out of ground. Nobody had lived the canyon for fifty years and that was the result of one catastrophic incident.

At that time nobody knew just what Kingdom Hearts was besides a source of near unlimited light. Countless years of research had led to only two facts being confirmed. The first was that it was formed during the event known as Keyblade War. The second was that it was highly unstable. The second had been covered up to prevent panic. This instability was credited to the imbalance of light and darkness within it. Why such an imbalance existed was anyone's guess. There were some who claimed that an entire universe was beyond Kingdom Hearts. They were treated like nut jobs.

Then it happened. Something within Kingdom Hearts went awry. By this time, the thing had almost no darkness and whatever darkness was left got destroyed. That's when it self-destructed.

The damage was both immediate and long lasting. Any civilization on any planet within the vicinity of the blast was almost completely destroyed. Keyblades rained down crashing onto the unfortunate planets and many people who were near the crash sites were killed from the impacts. The survivors weren't as lucky. The light eradicated any darkness from many of their hearts consuming them completely turning them into monsters called the Blinded. The ones still human were forced to survive on their own until rescue operations could arrive. Out of all twenty-three affected planets with humans on them, only two percent of the people survived, billions of others died or were consumed. The event was known simply by the name of its source, Kingdom Hearts.

Those planets had been deemed inhospitable for humans and left alone for fifty years. Felix and his two companions were three of six people on the planet at the time. The first was Isabel the girl he had traveled with along with Riku. She was a short Latina with short, dark orange hair and a shotgun strapped to her back. A pair of pistols was in their holster strapped across her back mostly hidden under her jacket. Jake, a black guy with dreadlocks, was the second. His wireless headphones were around his neck. His red and black jacket covered most his upper body but was open revealing a black t-shirt underneath.

"Y'know Felix, coming out here was bad idea to begin with and, that's just like you." Jake said as though there were no issue. "But bringing me, a Keyblade wielder… what's up?"

Felix turned around with a grin on his face. His pink eyes were filled with an adventurous spirit. "Because we need a look out and those ears o' yours are the best around." He answered.

"And if the Society decides to rear its ugly head? As the one that's tried to kill me…oh about twenty times. You know how close we are to their head quarters." Jake said.

"Then we do what we always do." Isabel brandished one of her pistols engraved with the words "Madre de Dios" on the outer side.

"Yeah, well, it's a good thing you think like that, 'cause we've company, if you two haven't noticed." Jake pointed at the rock wall on their left flank sending Felix and Isabel's eyes toward it. Snow white creatures began to emerge from stone through equally white Corridors of Light. They were small with crooked antennae, sharp claws, and blue eyes. Such Blinded were known as Flashes.

Felix smiled as his fists began to glow magenta. "Small fries…" Huginn flew higher into the air to observe from above. The wave of Flashes came down at once mindlessly attacking their prey. Isabel fired her pistols, picking many off with each shot. Her bullets were enhanced by red spinning magical energy. Jake held his hand out covering it in darkness only enticing the Blinded even further. Any who caught Jake's attention were destroyed by a set of piano keys that made he controlled with the movement of his fingers. Felix charged head-on with his fists raised. Rather than punch, he kicked his enemies due to their small size. Each blow knocked them into their fellow monsters destroying many at once.

It was easy battle to say the least. They had fought much more powerful opponents in the past and all of them had far more intelligence then the Blinded who were known to run on pure instinct. The fight was over in less than two minutes with a victory being more than clear. "Boring!" Felix said scratching the back of his head.

The group headed toward the direction they'd been going and returned to their trek through the canyon. Felix led the group through a mostly uneventful walk. They were attacked a few times but, it was nothing they couldn't handle with minimal almost reflexive effort. Eventually they reached a dead-end. The wall curved around becoming one with the other side.

"I don't get it." Felix pulled a notebook and opened it to a paged he had marked before. "It should be right here." Felix read and re-read Riku's writing making sure he hadn't made a mistake.

"Maybe it's upside-down, caw!" Hugginn chided looking at the notes from Felix's shoulder.

"Shut it." Felix responded squinting at the notes

"Wait, I see something." Isabel said pointing at the rocks. Her eyes, irises and all, had become red with spirals cropping out from her pupils.

Jake walked over to part of wall Isabel had indicated and pressed his ear to it. He tapped twice and listened before announcing, "It's only about foot thick."

"Then stand back." Felix moved in front the wall while the other two took his advice. He threw his at the fist at the wall breaking the rocks revealing a tunnel lit only by the sun. Beyond that it was pitch black. "Jake, how far does this thing go?"

"Lemme check." Jake whistled a two note tune into the cave and listened to the echoes. The sound reverberated of the walls and created a map in Jake's head with detail on every nook and cranny of the tunnel. "Between the length and the branch paths, the thing goes for miles. Any particular reason you want to go in."

"There's something a friend of mine wants me to find." Felix said entering darkness of the cave.

"Wha…Oh forget it." Jake said following Isabel as she entered.

The lack of light was no issue for the group within the cave. Isabel's eyes could see object without the aid of light. Jake's extraordinary hearing was on par with a bat's and let him know where everything was every time a sound was made. Felix was born with tunnel vision. To compensate, his nerves became sensitive to much lesser than normal sensations of touch. He could feel objects because the shift in air they created.

Like any other cave, stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere. The floor was slippery from water that dripped from the ceilings. Jake guided them having the best idea where everything was at. They explored the cave thoroughly checking every path they could. On the occasion, they dispatched some the Blinded. At around noon they stopped in wide cavern to eat lunch.

"Say, Jake, there any impact sites in here?" Felix asked biting into his sandwich.

"Impact sites?" Jake thought for a moment. "Yeah, it pierced a hole to the surface. That's only reason there's oxygen in here."

"Okay, then that's our next stop." Felix said calmly.

With their destination set, the group walked deeper into the caves. After about twenty minutes of walking, light finally appeared. Felix and Jake held back for a moment to allow their eyes to adjust while Isabel walked ahead. The sunlight came on through the hole created from the impact along with fresh air. "Buenos aires." She said taking a deep breath. Then she looked up. "Qué!? Oi! Felix! Jake! Get over here!"

The two boys came into the wide open space, a circle approximately one hundred yards in diameter. Vines and other flora grew up the wall and on the ground. They shielded their eyes to limit the light entering. They looked at the center of the room. Twenty feet above the ground floated a clear cocoon. Felix ran up towards it forgetting to shield his eyes and desperate to see if it was the right person inside.

Inside the cocoon was a sleeping girl. Her auburn red hair was straight and fell past her shoulders. The shape of her eyes made it clear she was Asian. "Asian girl with red hair. Izzy, we found her…" Felix said smiling. Isabel too smiled.

" 'Found her.' Found who? Do you know this chick?" Jake asked confused. He looked at the cocoon then recalled a memory he had written off pointless. His Master had mentioned kidnapping a girl with red hair to lure Sora into a trap. His former friend had interfered, however. "No way. No goddamn way. She's been sleeping here for the past fifty years?"

"It makes sense if you think about. Most of the other cocoons fell into open spaces where they could be seen if you were looking for it." Felix said. "The impacts re-drew the maps a lot. No one would think to check a hole in the ground given the all the other examples."

"But Riku did." Jake said looking at the cocoon. "And I've got a feeling Lea helped."

Felix began to reach up to the cocoon. It cracked. Felix retracted his hand as it broke apart shattering the girl's image. The entirety of the cocoon was soon covered with cracks. It fell apart from the bottom up each piece rising then vanishing. The girl floated to the ground as though someone were lowering her on a mat. She landed softly on her back.

The three were quickly standing over the girl making sure she was alive. Felix knelt down and grabbed her wrist to take her pulse. He confirmed she was alive but, this action stirred her into consciousness. Her eyelids slowly opened revealing a pair of blue irises. "Sora…" she muttered seeing the mass of spikes that made up Felix's hair.

"Sorry, 'friad not." Felix said with a chuckled. "You're Kairi, right?"

"Yeah…" Kairi said sitting herself up. She turned her head some trying to get a bearing on her surroundings. "How long was I asleep?" She asked confused. She knew for a fact it had been a long time but how long was a mystery. She received no answer. The three that had woke her up had no idea how to explain things.

"Fifty years." A male voice came from the tunnel leading to the opening. A man with blue hair stood next to a green haired woman. Armor was on both of their left arms. "Man, destiny has to be on our side. You lead us straight to Kairi of all people." His voice filled with arrogance.

Kairi looked at pair in utter confusion. The three who had found her simply smiled as though mocking them. Felix stood up chuckling to himself. "You _seriously_ thought we hadn't noticed you following us. That was an IQ test. If you didn't attack while we were distracted, you're idiots." Felix cracked his knuckles. "Jake, you take Kairi up and send a call to Duffie to get us out of here. Me 'n' Izzy'll handle this."

"Always stealin' the fun." Jake said scooping Kairi into his arms.

"Hey, wait a minute! What's going on?" Kairi shouted as Jake flew up to surface carrying her.

"I won't let you get away!" The woman said flying into the air. In her hand was a Keyblade of a mostly silver design accented with blue. She stopped suddenly and saw a magenta arm grabbing onto her ankle. The arm pulled her down and slammed her into the wall over the tunnel.

Felix retracted the arm back into his glowing magenta hand. He smiled as he watched the man help his comrade to her feet. "What? Your boss offer some big reward for her? Sorry, but she's comin' with me for now."

"Alright, kid, you wanna play rough?" The man put his fist to the armor and woman followed. Both of them were immediately covered in a full suite of Keyblade armor. The man charged with his Keyblade, which resembled a column of flames, on fire. Felix matched in the charge fists ready. The man swung with all his might but missed as Felix slid under and grabbed his ankle dragging him to the ground. Before the man attempted to stand Felix sent his foot into his helmet.

The woman made an attempt to cut Felix from behind but, he'd already felt and heard her movement and ducked giving Isabel a clear shot. The only thing that saved the woman from a bullet to the heart was her armor. It didn't protect her when Felix locked his arms around her waist, lifted her, and then slammed her neck and shoulders into the ground.

While Felix had turned his focus toward the woman, the man attacked Isabel believing her to be the weaker of the pair. His flaming Keyblade was met with a foot long combat knife with a serrated back side. The two exchanged strikes a few seconds before Isabel jumped fifteen feet into the air. "Running away, huh?" The man taunted.

"Yep!" Isabel admitted before the man's partner, being carried by a horizontal twister, crashed into him sending them both into the wall opposite the tunnel.

The woman stood frustrated with the situation. Felix motioned with his index finger for her to attack. In response she pointed her Keyblade at him and fired twin orbs of blue light that danced in a circle as they raced towards their target. Felix jumped just before the orbs hit and they exploded beneath him. He was now high in the air falling towards the Keyblade wielders in his descent. Both of them fired spells at him in an attempt to knock him to the ground. Bullets from Isabel made them lose focus and send some of their shots haywire. Felix spun, flipped, and swerved in the air evading all the attacks that came close. The nimbleness of his movements baffled the Keyblade wielders even further and made getting a lock on him all the more difficult.

When he got close, Felix centered himself making sure to land on the woman's Keyblade. When Felix made contact, the weapon became unbearably heavy. Stunned by the sudden increase in weight, the woman had no time to counterattack. Felix grabbed her by the back of her helmet and drove a magenta fist through to her face. She was sent careening across the ground barely conscious.

The man swung at Felix from behind but was easily dodged. Felix spun and delivered a blow to the side and followed with one to the gut. He grabbed his right wrist and shoulder and pulled them in opposite directions. "Please have mercy." The man whimpered.

"You started it." Felix drove his knee into the man's elbow shattering it. A scream was summoned from the depths of his heart as he was thrown to the ground.

Felix shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes as the man screamed in agony. A simple tilt of the head was all he needed to avoid an attack of the woman. He could feel the swelling of her face and the heaving of her chest as she breathed. She forced herself to stand but, it was obvious to Felix she had a concussion. She desperately swung her Keyblade but, Felix grabbed her wrist and tossed her into the ground. The woman came up with one last desperation plan. She fired a spell at Isabel hoping to catch them off guard. Her reward was a bullet to the skull.

The man forgot his pain at the sight of his fallen comrade. Blood poured from the wound staining her green hair red. Her faced held one of terror as the last thing she saw was her own demise. Felix couldn't see his face but knew the rage that was probably hidden behind the helmet. The man wildly swung his Keyblade with his left arm the flames burning blue. Felix avoided the attack and twisted the man around. He grabbed the Keyblade wielder's chin and the back of his head and violently jerked them resulting in the sound of bones breaking. Felix dropped the man and walked away.

Isabel holstered her pistols and looked at the green sky. "Fácil…" She said as Felix made twister that lifted them to the surface.

They found Kairi yelling at Jake. "One of y'all got some duck tape?" Jake asked trying to ignore her.

"What is going on?" Kairi demanded in anger. "Where am I and who are you people? What was that scream?"

"Look we don't have time to explain right now." Felix said. "Just come with us and I'll give you all the answers I can."

"I'm not going anywhere with you unless you give me a reason to trust you." Kairi said sternly.

Felix smiled and simply handed her Riku's notebook to her. "Here's a reason." She opened it and immediately recognized the handwriting. "Read the last page." Felix said. He'd read it himself multiple times and eventually realized it was a message for her.

As she drank in the message, a massive air ship descended behind. It was painted red and black and the black phoenix on it in multiple places. Its main engine was on the back with six stabilizing engines down its hull. The command center was near the back and covered by glass. Guns were mounted in multiple spots across the ship.

"Riku, where is he?" Kairi said trembling. "Where's Riku and Sora and Lea everyone!? What the hell is happening!?"

"Like I said." Felix walked towards the ship reluctant to lock eyes with her. "We don't have time to explain right now."

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_**So what do you think. Review and tell me.**_


	3. Introduction: Burn Out

_**Chapter 2 is here. As you can see. It's obvious Now your going to read. Like you just the A/N. Enjoy.**_

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**Chapter 2**

**Introductions: Burn Out**

Felix watched as Kairi gazed into the sky looking at the countless stars. She stood on a metal floor in the _Burn Out_'s, a heavily armed dreadnought class ship owned by Black Phoenix, command center. Beneath her feet was the black phoenix staring her down. Kairi's mind danced with the information she had just been given. Felix had told her about Kingdom Hearts. He explained to her the devastation it had caused. He also told her about the cocoons that people connected to it had been sleeping inside of. Fifty years had gone by since she'd seen the seconds leading up the catastrophe.

Kairi recalled that day. Less than a month had gone by since Xehanort had been defeated. Everything had been going perfectly. Sora had finally gotten the courage to tell her how he felt about her. Kairi's training in the Keyblade was to be furthered under Yen Sid. Then they found out that there were still Heartless roaming around. That when they made a shocking discovery. Kingdom Hearts itself had a minute amount of darkness in it. Yen Sid had come to the conclusion that eliminating that darkness would be the best way to finish the Heartless off for good.

The last thing Kairi remembered was a blinding flash of light. Then Felix was hovering over her face. He had yet to tell her about Riku. Before he'd gotten to more recent in history, Kairi had stopped him. Her mind was in a grid lock. Part of her immediately realized what their actions had done. The other part told her it wasn't their fault. The first part screamed at the other for trying to deny the truth.

Kairi hadn't even realized she was crying when Felix touched on the shoulder. "You okay?" He asked.

She jumped having been lost in a daze for about five minutes. After hastily wiping her tears Kairi said, "Uh, I'm fine, really." She was looking down and stared straight into the phoenix's eyes. "So, who are you people anyway?" She enquired.

"Wha…" Felix said with a look of puzzle in his face. "Well, shit. We caused so trouble over the past couple years, I figured anyone in the world would at least recognize my face. But, you've been asleep for half a century." He rambled, waltzing around the area.

Watching him pace around the command center reminded Kairi of the fact that she was on the _Burn Out_ rather than a Gummi ship which she was accustomed to. Two flights of stairs lead to the main command console with the pilot's chair directly in front but at the lowest level. Four other consoles were tiered out and down, two on either side, and accessible from the stairs. There was a large amount of space in between the glass covering and the consoles. On either side of the pilot's seat was a door that led to inner workings of the _Burn Out_. The black phoenix insignia was on the space in above the pilot and on the floor in between the consoles and the glass.

Isabel and Jake were both at a console. Isabel was shooting at meteoroids that the ship passed and, Jake was checking up on Twitter. At the pilots console sat Duffie. Duffie was a blond boy who wore loose, baggy, white pants and jacket of the same design with a collar that covered part of his face depending on how he sat or stood. A pair of goggles strung up his messy hair and revealed his orange eyes.

Felix stopped his pacing and jumped over the consoles and into the commander's seat. He performed several keystrokes on a holographic screen then pointed back to the glass. Kairi looked up and saw countless news articles and images of the four she was on board the ship with as well as a group others. Most of these pictures had scenes of mayhem in the background. One article read "Teenagers Lead Destruction of IPG Base." Others were "Black Phoenix TPs City" or "Phoenix Crashes Royal Wedding." Yet another was "Black Phoenix Erases Desert Falls Outpost." One stood out to her "IPG Places 20 Million Munny Bounty on 12 Year-Old."

"What does 'Erase' mean?" Kairi enquired looking back at the group who made no secret of the amusement on their faces.

"Removed from existence. Caw!" Huginn squawked landing on Kairi's red hair.

"And not the point." Felix said waving his hand dismissively. "By law we're classed as terrorist organization but, really we just do whatever happens to suit us at the moment. We all have our own goals and what-not and so happened to end up at the same place at the time."

"We then tried to kill this guy but, that's a different story." Duffie chimed in.

"Shut it." Felix said. "Bottom line is we do whatever we damn well please. We aren't exactly law abiding citizens, but we don't go around blowing shit up." Felix paused for a moment. "Well, that's not main goal at least."

"Oh geez," Kairi said under her breath. "Look I appreciate you guys waking me up and all but, could you guys try to find someone else who was sleeping like me and take me there." The request was nervous but sincere. All head's turned to Jake.

Jake looked at the others with a reluctant face. "Oh no, oh hell no, oh _fuck_ no. Uh-uh, it ain't happenin'. She can figure her shit out on her own."

Felix jumped down from his console and got behind Kairi. He pinched her face on both sides and forced a smile onto it. Any complaint Kairi had was too garbled to be understood. "How could you say no to a cute face like this?" Felix said sarcastically.

Jake rubbed his temple in frustration realizing there was no getting out of it. "You know what. Okay. Fine, but you owe me big time, Red." Jake pulled out a notepad and jotted down a sequence of numbers. He handed the notepad to Duffie who put the numbers in the navigation system.

"Wait, where are we going?" Kairi asked rubbing her cheeks.

"To visit my Master." Jake said reluctantly.

"Who's also his grandpa." Felix added. He was immediately crushed by a giant piano key.

**Burn**

The circular opening where Kairi had been sleeping was buzzing with activity. Forty-two people were running around rallying information trying to piece together what had occurred there less than two hours ago. The Keyblade Wielders who had confronted Felix had been under orders not to engage unless necessary. Breaking those orders had cost them their lives. Now almost everyone was in a frenzy to determine what was worth getting killed over.

Only one person was not busy with work of some kind. Her green hair horribly disheveled. All that covered her body was a t-shirt and athletic shorts. Red Keyblade armor was on her left arm. She looked down at the corpse of the green haired woman with little interest. "So, my big sis went and bit it, huh." She said with a flat tone. "Leave it to her to die and leave me with the funeral to arrange."

"Now that's just flat-out cruel, Miss Denise." The examiner said. "No wonder you haven't become a Master yet with that attitude."

"Meh, whatever." Denise said yawning. "Becoming a Master means more work getting dumped on me. Sis was always running her mouth about how awesome it would be to become a Master but, she went and left me with the job of fixing her mistake. So screw her."

"Your own sister…"

She began to walk away from the corpses and think about her assignment. It was to find out who had been inside that cocoon. She knew Black Phoenix had that person and where their base of operations was. All she had to do was set up her team there and wait for someone new to show up.

Easy work was still work.

**Ashes**

After two hours of flying and a thirty minute stop for pizza, the _Burn Out_'s crew landed outside a small mining town leaving the ship in orbit and taking a shuttle down to the surface. The sun shone on the cobblestone road and lit the rustic stone and wood buildings. The mountain air filled the main plaza and market making it all the more pleasant. Booths with fruits, handmade clothes, and other goods lined the outer rim of the square with the mayor's office standing in the center of it all.

Jake, who had removed his jacket, grinned at the sight of it all. "And here comes the nostalgia." He said wistfully. "Home sweet home."

As they walked through town, Kairi noticed how many people recognized and greeted Jake on sight despite his criminal record. To them, he and Black Phoenix were heroes. The Interplanetary Government which was usually shortened to IPG had the group painted as interstellar terrorists but, the locals seemed to approve of their actions. Though Kairi still couldn't wrap her mind around any of their true natures, she trusted Riku enough to follow them for now.

After strolling around and Jake blatantly using sightseeing and meeting old childhood friends to prolong the meeting, the group arrived at a large ranch house at the edge of town. Green fields of grazing cockatrice and yellow chocobo were behind it spreading for acres.

"And now I smell the nostalgia." Jake said referring to the offensive odor of chocobo. As they walked toward the house a battle cry could be heard bellowing in the distance. The clomping of feet on the roof of the house alerted Kairi the shouter's position. He was a young boy, twelve at the most by Kairi eyes, with red-orange hair. In his hands was crimson Keyblade with flames for teeth. He glared at Jake with contempt. "So the old man got himself a new apprentice, huh? One more his color I see."

The boy snarled. "Hey, you there, Jacob Marshall!" He shouted with gusto. Jake simply went for the door pulling out a house key he hadn't used in three years. "Look at me! I, Vincense, challenge you to a duel!" Kairi couldn't but to laugh at the young apprentice's challenge. Felix and the others were right there with her. "Don't mess with me!" The boy raised his Keyblade in the air and created a large fire ball over his head. He swung down launching his attack. Black Phoenix and Kairi simply jumped a hundred feet backward out of the blast radius. The sound sent the chocobos and cockatrice into a frenzy fleeing the area as quickly as possible

After seeing that he'd scorched the ground and front of the house, Vincense jumped down from the roof onto the heated dirt. "Now do you accept my challenge?"

"Nope."

Jake replied only to enrage the boy. He charged with his Keyblade ablaze. Jake response was to stick his left leg out and raised his right hand. Felix and Duffie raised their spun index fingers over their heads and shouted "Oooooh…" with a long breath covering Vincense's battle cry. Vincense arrived at the group in a few seconds. Before the apprentice swung, Jake brought his foot up to his chin launching the boy into the air and stopping the "Oh." The Keyblade was dropped as the boy flew through the air before finally crashing through the roof that he had stood on less than a minute before.

"Es bueno!" Isabel shouted making a goal post with her arms.

"Uh, was that necessary?" Kairi asked looking at the hole in the roof.

"Please, if gramps's training hasn't already killed him, there's no way that will." Jake said as Vincense opened up the black door. "See. He's fine." Jake said as though there weren't streaming down his face.

"I said 'don't mess with me'!" The boy said picking his Keyblade off the ground.

"But you make it so easy." Jake replied.

"Well if isn't the conquering hero." Said a female voice from the ranch but, Jake was the only one to hear clearly. Climbing over the fence was a girl with bright red hair. She wore a red sundress and stilettos. Rabbit ears were on her head rather than those of a human. "Why is it that I'm not surprise by any of this?"

"It's 'cause this kids a brat." Jake answered.

"Jake, I thought there were no ginger viera." Felix commented quietly noting her red hair as she came into his field of vision.

"There aren't." The girl said still fifty feet away. As she got closer she smiled at Jake. "I'm one-fourth human. My hair comes from our grandfather. I am Jrin"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kairi." She extended a hand and shook with Jrin who smiled at her. "Wait, 'our.' You two have the same grandpa."

"She's one-fourth human; I'm one-fourth viera. Our moms were half and half. Deal with it." Jake said.

"Haha, you're bunny people!" Vincense said only to be punted back into the fields by Jake and Jrin.

"Where the hell did gramps find _that_ kid?" Jake inquired as the birds scattered again.

"He said he reminded him of himself." Jrin answered. "Besides, you were a bit of an ass yourself when you were his age and still are to a degree." Jake chuckled at cousin's words. "So do I owe the pleasure of your return to something, or did you and that assassin girl finally break up?"

"See, a break up requires me to have chance with her. Contrary to my original plan, I did not." Jake admitted jokingly. "I'm here because Red wants to talk gramps. I hope you have with that." Jake spun on his heel to leave. A wall of flames erupted to block. "And here we go…"

Out of the house came a slender man cone-shaped spikes for red hair. His green eyes locked with Jake's as he walked towards them wearing jeans and a flannel shirt with Keyblade armor on his left arm. Kairi immediately recognized the man baffled as to just how he could be so young looking even though enough time had passed for him to have grandchildren. He didn't look a day past thirty-five.

After crossing the hundred feet between his house and the teenagers, Keyblade Master Lea spoke. "I was out in the fields, feeding the birds when I had to use the bathroom. I went inside, got on the toilet, and starting my business. I had a burrito earlier; it was taking a while. Next thing I know, there's an explosion then a crash. I get finished; I come out; there's a hole in my roof and the front of my house is burnt. Jake, what the hell?"

"Oh, so this is automatically _my_ fault."

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_**Yes, Lea married a viera (if you don't know what that is check the FF wikia), and if he lets his nails grow Jake will have claws and can go into a mist frenzy.  
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_**Review and all that jazz.  
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	4. Introductions: Change

_**Chapter 3, yeah...Enjoy.  
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**Chapter Three**

**Introductions: Change**

Kairi sat at Lea's dining table silently. In front of her was cup of ice tea and light from the window filtered in from behind. She gazed at a picture of Lea, his viera wife and three daughters hanging on the green wall. Two of them had viera ears and one of them didn't. Next to it was a frame with multiple pictures inside of it in smaller frames. Kairi could trace Jake's life from his mother's marriage to the age of about twelve in it.

Lea tapped his finger on the table with minor impatience. He wasn't sure what to say. The last time he'd seen Kairi was fifty years in the past. Now he had a wife and grandkids who were almost adults. "Well, how are you holding up?" He asked.

Kairi tightened her grip on the cup. "How do you think? The last thing I remember is everyone I care about smiling. Then I wake up, like it was some kind of sick dream." Her voice cracked. "The light was supposed to protect us. Why did it do this?"

Lea gave crooked grin and chuckled. "Because we were wrong. Sorta ironic, huh. If Xehanort had his way all those years ago, we'd all be long dead but, a lot more others would be alive." He looked out the window and saw Vincense being thrown into Duffie's arms before the blonde took off running. "Took me two years to dig myself out of that slump. Blaming ourselves won't do shit. That's only advice I can give."

Kairi looked down at her tea with and saw her own quivering reflection. "Sora and Riku. Aqua, Terra, and Ven. Yuffie, Leon and everyone else. What happened to them?"

He shrugged. "Not really sure. We all woke up at different times so who knows about some of them. Aerith's been doing her thing healing the poor and growing flowers, short an arm though. Yuffie died about ten years ago. Naminé's in college right now. Aqua, well, shit hit the fan. Roxas has been…shit."

"What you mean 'shit'? Where's Roxas?"

Lea's face darkened. He anxiously rocked the tea back and forth in his hand. "See Kingdom Hearts revealed some interesting things about our world. People fading don't simply disappear. It's not the same as death. They became one with Kingdom Hearts. When that incident occurred they were free as whole as ever." He sat back in his chair. "Xehanort's back."

Kairi's face washed pale. "He's back?" She said as her head sank into the table. "After all we went through, he just came back. Why? What the hell? Why?" She squeezed her glass tighter. "And just why are you sitting here raising chocobo instead doing something?" Rage took over. "Shouldn't you be fighting alongside your _friend_ rather than sitting on your ass?"

"First of all just who do you think you're talking to?" Lea responded. "I'm seventy-six if you didn't notice. That's way your elder. And if you must know why I'm here you met them. The villagers, Jrin, Vincense, if I turn my back for even a second…" He turned his head away. "Let's just say things change and so have my priorities. Jake or his mother could win against Xehanort on their own but the rest of my family… I can't be in two places at once y'know."

"Sorry…"

"Don't be. I don't exactly expect you to be thinking rationally right now. At least you're not like Jake who just went and ignored it." He looked out the window and noticed his grandson jumping over Felix with Vincense in his arms. "Only thing stopping him from becoming a Master is interest. Stormed outta this town a few years saying he didn't care about the Keyblade or duty. It still chose him though. Got it from my side I suppose."

Kairi looked out the window and could see Vincense being thrown again. He ignited his body but, stopped in mid-air until the spell ran out and landed in Felix's waiting arm before being slammed into the ground. "What about him?" She asked. "What's his deal?"

"Crow? An intergalactic troublemaker wanted dead by various organizations." Lea responded.

"But, Riku trusts him. It's definitely Riku's handwriting in that notebook." Kairi mused. "That message in the back said to ignore his insanity."

"Riku saw something in him." Lea said. "I only met him once before now. He blew Jake through the stable with a punch. Not to mention the rest of Black Phoenix…it's trouble. For now, you should just lay low here. A cousin from out of town, no one would suspect a thing. It'll work until we get things sorted out. We'll finish out your Keyblade training while we're at it."

"What about them? They might want to keep me around." Kairi turned toward the window and saw Isabel front flipping over Duffie with Vincense in her arms. "Never mind, I'm your cousin."

Lea stood up from the table and motioned for Kairi to follow. Lea began go on about contacting someone known as "Phantom" to have fake ID and a birth certificate made but, Kairi spaced out. She looked along the green walls and saw photos of the last fifty years of Lea's life. His personality hadn't really changed much from when last saw him which to her was less than a day ago. But she could see a clear difference in his character. Lea had grown and his words bore more weight than ever. He was no Yen Sid but he would be a good Master to her.

By the time Kairi came back to the rest of the world, Lea had already led her outside to the fields. Lea caught his green apprentice mid-flight and slung the boy over his shoulder. "Thank-you…" He moaned.

"Aw, we were going to make him explode next." Felix complained. Lea looked at him with contempt.

"Okay, you guys can go home now." Lea announced.

"Good. Let's go." Jake said ready to hop the fence. "Wait a minute. Grandma's gonna kill you if she sees that roof."

"Your point?"

"My point is that this is usually where you break out the wood and hammer and tell me to fix it. What gives?"

"Hey, man, less work for us." Felix said joining Jake by the fence. Hugginn returned to his perch atop Felix's head.

"Hold on, Crow." Jake looked at his grandfather. "Is there any particular reason you want us gone so quickly. I mean the last time you saw me you were hounding me to come home. Or is it that noise I've been hearing since we got here."

"What do mean 'noise,' Jake?" Lea asked with his narrowed towards his grandson.

"My hearing came as part of my sixth sense. Whenever a Heartless or a Blinded is near they sound obnoxious, unfocused 'noise.' Why are they here and why aren't they attacking?"

Lea went wide eyed with a start for a moment. "Okay, my first plan is officially screwed. And plan b is useless without Roxas."

"The hell does Uncle Roxas have to do with this." Countless black vortexes began appearing across the fields. Out of them poured Shadows and Neo Shadows. From the ground rose three Darksides. "Only three. Is that it?"

"Now I just feel insulted." Felix said rolling his neck. "I feel like stretching is just too much of a compliment for these guys. I mean really, this is like that part of the game where you just started it and this is the first boss that's there just to get plot rolling. That's how easily I could handle these things."

While Felix was rambling the sky had grown unnaturally dark. Jake could hear the concerned murmurs of the townspeople as they observed the phenomena.

"Hey, Crow." Jake picked up of the Shadows by its head. He dropped it and kicked it over to Felix who returned it and the two had a game of hacky sack going. They kicked the Heartless back and forth and occasionally to Isabel or Duffie who would respond with a good kick of their own. Kairi stood and watched this carefree game go on as the brunt of the Shadow pack moved in on them. Their golden eyes and black masses glared her down with unrestricted hunger.

Felix finally struck. He coated his foot in magenta and struck the Heartless with the side. It flew low to the ground ramming through its brethren with a barrier of air surrounding it. Felix ran right through the cloud of darkness that formed from the destroyed Heartless and repeated his tactic with the same results.

Jake summoned his Keyblade with smile on his face. Jake's was designed with two, black flat note symbols facing outward from the green hilt. The blade was thick and gray with two speakers on each side and a sharp symbol served as the teeth. Its keychain was tuning hammer. The blade broke apart into a mass of piano keys. When Jake swung the keys acted as one, extending outward cleaving the Heartless in two. Felix jumped over the blade as it passed under him.

Felix observed as more Shadows form the Darksides. His hands glowed as he gripped the air in front of him before he turned his arms to form a circle. A twister burst forth from the space in front of him tearing through the newborns. The Darksides seemed only slightly annoyed by the blast of wind before it dissipated.

When the dust settled Felix, Duffie, and Jake were over the Darksides' heads. Felix drove a vector through the center one's head and created a crater in the ground where his fist impacted. Jake snapped his finger over the one to Felix's left. The green flash of energy shot in the Heartless before erupting into a column that eradicated it. Duffie dropped four cylinders the size of double "A" batteries onto his. They exploded into red balls of flames. The flames conglomerated into a single blast creating a fifth explosion that completely engulfed the space that was occupied by the Darksides and then some.

"Was that in _any _way necessary?" Lea said as the dark clouds faded. He watched as his livestock frantically ran around the fields and could see the ring of scorched earth created by the violent blast.

"Awesome. Beyond awesome." Vincense said gazing wide eyed at Jake, Duffie, and Felix who were high fiving each other. He compared the blast radius to his tiny scorch mark in the front and was more than impressed.

Kairi simply looked at them. They had handled the Darksides like flies. Her legs were still shaking from the blast. Three of the beast that had once destroyed her home were child's play to them. "Incredible…"

Jrin rode by on a chocobo and announced that no harm had been done to the animals or the fence. The neighbors were concerned but, had accepted the story that Jake had just been showing off given by Lea. After surveying the damage, Lea simply decided to replant the grass. He handed Jake wood, a saw, a hammer, and nails and told him to fix the hole in the roof.

**Burn**

"Let's see I've got this straight." Felix said after hearing Lea's explanation. They had gone to the dining room after the fight against the Darksides. "This Xehanort guy wants to recreate Kingdom Hearts to experiment and figure out what went down with the Keyblade War. To do that, he needs to find these 'seven princesses' which Kairi just happens to be a member. Now you want us to sit back and wait while Roxas tracks down Xehanort's stronghold so we can attack it." Lea nodded. "Sounds like a load of fairy tale bullshit to me. But I've heard and seen crazier."

"So you're on board?" Lea said.

"Nope, not really." Felix said leaning back in chair. "He'll be comin' to me soon enough."

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Kairi asked.

"Because I make my home in one of the only two places with knowledge about the Keyblade Rejection Reaction."

"Rejection Reaction…"

"Yep." Felix held up his left hand. "If I so much as touch a Keyblade it turns into a dead weight no matter who's holdin' it. Even Riku couldn't counter it. If this guy is really a Keyblade Master, he'll come to Prodos eventually."

At this point Kairi had stopped questioning Felix's sanity and finally determined that he was mad. "You really think it's that easy. Xehanort is one of the most dangerous people in the world and you're not even worried. What, do you think that this just another day in the office for you?"

"Actually, yes."

"Sí."

"Nothing special."

"Why do you think we're wanted criminals?" Jake shouted from the roof.

Lea drummed his fingers on the table considering his options. "My original plan was for Kairi to stay here until we sorted this all out. But Xehanort knows you're here and will probably attack again, personally if the need arises. The problem is that a small village like this will get destroyed if a fight breaks out, not to mention hostages. But in Prodos…"

"We can go as wild as we want." Felix said. "Not to mention we'll have a very unhappy, heavily armed military to back us up, which is a rare occasion. One person in particular comes to mind. So yeah, I like my plan."

"That 'plan' being act recklessly until someone dies." Lea commented.

"It's worked for me before."

"Yeah, but this time the universe might be in danger." Jake entered setting down his tools. "Sorta different from anything else we've gone up against, y'know?"

"So let's see I've got this straight." Kairi requested. "You are aware that you may be fighting one of the most powerful people in existence. He will have an army of monsters out to steal your hearts. Along with him will likely be people of just as much power. You intend sit around and wait for him to attack and use me as bait."

"See that? She's catching on already." Felix joked. "Besides, this'll be the most fun we've had in a couple weeks. Look at it this way. You'll be _heavily guarded_ bait. We're putting our asses on the line too. He wants you alive anyway, so it's not like _you're_ gonna die."

"That doesn't make it any more appealing."

"Well, what d'you you guys think?" Felix asked his team.

"What about me?"

"Lo que la hace callar."

"What?"

"Works fine for me."

"Do I get a say?"

"Not like the others are gonna say anything to object."

"I'll take that as a no."

"So it's decided. Next stop Prodos."

"Yeah, but first I'm thinking we should do something about the tank." Jake mentioned passively.

"Tank?"

"Attention, Crow!" A booming voice came from outside. "Come out here to the town square and face me like a man!"

"These guys are coming just out a nowhere today."

The group went outside walked to the square. There they were met with two-hundred men armed with automatic fire arms, rocket launchers, and various other weapons including bats and chains. A pair of small ships hovered in the air over the square each with guns mounted on the sides. The leader of the band sat in what Jake had described as a tank. The base was mounted on six massive wheels that were protected by metal eaves. The cockpit was its torso. The arms had multiple projectile weapons for hands. Isabel's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas morning.

"Dude, that is not a tank." Felix said to Jake.

"What do you mean it's not tank." Jake responded. "Look at it."

"Tanks have like giant cannons at the top. That thing's more like mecha suit or something."

"Since when do mecha suits have _wheels_?"

They the bickered the point back and forth for about a minute before the leader interrupted. "Ahem!" He opened the cockpit and revealed his bald tattooed head. His crooked eyes seethed unrestricted hatred. "Now that I have your attention, it's time we settle once and for all, Black Phoenix."

"Do we know this guy…?" Felix asked looking over his shoulder to no one.

"Maybe…" Duffie said

"As I'm sure you recall, a year ago we met. I was but a humble bounty hunter seeking the head of three-hundred million munny man. It was a disaster." The man said chocking up. "The bar I attempted to arrest you in was already in upheaval when I arrived. Eight figures downed countless in the wreckage and the stench of blood permeated the air. I had brought my best men to bring you in and had the ultimate strategy for your capture. Taking advantage of the chaos we would confront you and drag you out. But, fate had other plans. When we found you and had you cornered, from nowhere a sniper fired on us. Before we could even reach for our weapons, it was too late. I lost my closest friends on that day.

"I give you a chance: surrender quietly or die where you stand."

"Uh, yeah…" Felix said scratching the back of his head. "Could you be a bit more specific? Y'know, like a name. An actual date. Planet this occurred on. Description of the bar. Something? Throw me a bone here."

"You dare mock me!" He shouted in rage.

"You act like you're only person I did this to."

Kairi looked absolutely flabbergasted at the whole scenario. She wasn't what was more unbelievable: the fact that Felix had done this or the fact that he had forgotten.

"Look man." Jake said in a relaxed tone. "We fight bounty hunters all the time. You can't expect us to remember everyone we killed. We need room for important stuff."

"That's it." The bounty hunter said solemnly. "I'm through wasting words on you. Let's see how well fair against us without your sniper." Blood splashed on the war machine as a bullet passed through his skull. Kairi gasped. The leader fell forward and flipped, leg over head. He flopped onto the ground slouched back against one of the eaves. His eyes were open, locked onto Felix.

"Boom! Head shot!" Felix cheered putting up the middle finger. The bounty hunter's men flew into a panic. Two smoke grenades landed and exploded in their midst. Many of them started firing. Jake held out his hand and erected a barrier to keep the bullets in. When the shooting stopped Jake let the barrier down. Blood and gunpowder attacked Kairi's nose.

The smoke gradually cleared. Fifty at least were dead. More were wounded. Isabel sat in the cockpit of the machine giggling like a little girl. A .416 Barrett sat next to her. She looked at the HUD and was thrilled at the sight of the weapons stored on board. It was worth the walking.

Meanwhile, the survivors had dropped their weapons, picked up the wounded, and fled in terror making sure to grab their leader's corpse.

Lea pinched his brow at the mess of bodies that had been produced. Kairi's stomach churned and her eyes swam. Vincense had thrown up onto the pavement. A few of the townspeople had come outside and now stared in horror at the sight. "Guess I won't be coming home anytime soon." Jake commented to his grandfather. "Tell Grandma I said 'love you' for me."

"Duffie, call down a tanker so we take Izzy's new toy up." Felix said.

"Already on it." Duffie said messing with his tablet.

"We'd better going before the IPG catches wind of this one." Felix surveyed the damage. Corpses and a bullet riddled cobblestone. "Let's get goin', Ginger."

"Yeah, the sooner the better." She answered defiantly. Felix and Lea looked surprised.

"Whoa-ho!" Felix threw his arms back. "No arguments? No sass? Why the sudden change?"

"Seriously, Kairi." Lea said with genuine concern. "What's wrong?"

Kairi looked away and said, "If stay here Xehanort will come. If I'm here, these people will be in danger."

"Then I'm coming with you. You'll need as much help as you can get." Lea said.

"And what? Leave the town unprotected?" Jake challenged. "From the stories you told when I was little, this Xehanort guy won't think twice about using it for leverage. You need stay here!"

"Y'know, if there's anything you got from me, it's that damn attitude of yours!" Lea said standing over Jake. "And let me tell you something. It'll lead to shit!"

"Oh, is that it! It'll lead to shit. Well, lemme tell _you_ something, old man. I've been just fine without you!"

"Fine!? You think you're fine!? You've spent the last two years running around acting like you own the goddamn universe; you have shit like _this_ following you around; and you think everything's fine!?"

"If people figure that out shit like this wouldn't happen." Jake stormed off towards the shuttle they'd flown down on.

Lea looked at his grandson then to Kairi and calmed himself. "Sorry about that. Jake can be a bit like me sometimes. Once we get things sorted out you can stay here as long you need to. Until then try to stay out of trouble."

"Trouble follows me around if you haven't noticed." Kairi tried to joke. "I think I can trust them though. At least not to try to kill me."

"Actually, I make no promises with that." Felix admitted.

**Ashes**

Kairi laid on a bed in the _Burn Out_ as the ship flew through space. She was tired from everything that had happened that day, even with a fifty-year-long sleep. There was a knock at the door. "Hey, Ginger, want something to eat?"

"I'm not hungry." She said spitefully.

"Uh, wanna talk about something?" Felix sounded confused.

"I want to be left alone right now." She replied.

There was silence for a moment but then, "Hey, Kairi, before start condemning us for all the bad things we've done think about this. If Sora had actually killed Xehanort, y'know like cold, dead body killed him, would you be in this situation right now?"

Kairi heard Felix walk away and buried her face into the pillow. She felt the warmth of her tears stain the fabric.

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_**It's a bit of a downer but y'know important to the story. Character development and all that.  
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_**Review and what-not. It makes me happy.  
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